I've heard the same thing . But at my age and good ventilation not much of a concern for me anymore . I just want A good strong white that I can dip a hot gather. When I was making my own batch I loved my Fenton white. I have a dead on 96 milk white formula but I just don't want to mix batch anymore . So I'm using Spruce Pine . And while the clarity is not as good as the old batch I used to make myself it's convenient and does a nice job . I do hate buying white rod at such high price and I miss having a pot to dip on. I do know that when you first open the furnace of milk white you don't want to be breathing it in right off the bat . But @52 I don't really care anymore LOL .

Fluorine would still attack the quartz. I think anything that can isolate the element from the gas would help. The white is not much of an issue to melt. Doing Cad sel stuff is more problematic. Cad sulfide always resisted complete melting, always from the cadmium compound side. Drawn from the pot at 200 F it looked a lot like crabs legs. It did melt in eventually and resisting turning it up to do so was a fine tightrope to walk. Too hot, the pot dissolved. Too cold, hard to get the melt just right.

I think the furnaces which are essentially muffle furnaces work best with a seal around the top of the pot at the door. Then, the elements are isolated. At that point the heat has to come through the pot walls and you are back to what Durk described with Anti''s melt problems. But it's still better.

Ideally, I'd melt fluorines with gas. After all those years of the moly, I confess it's really nice to be back to serious horsepower from propane. Nat gas would be even nicer.

Fluorine would still attack the quartz. I think anything that can isolate the element from the gas would help. The white is not much of an issue to melt. Doing Cad sel stuff is more problematic. Cad sulfide always resisted complete melting, always from the cadmium compound side. Drawn from the pot at 200 F it looked a lot like crabs legs. It did melt in eventually and resisting turning it up to do so was a fine tightrope to walk. Too hot, the pot dissolved. Too cold, hard to get the melt just right.

I think the furnaces which are essentially muffle furnaces work best with a seal around the top of the pot at the door. Then, the elements are isolated. At that point the heat has to come through the pot walls and you are back to what Durk described with Anti''s melt problems. But it's still better.

Ideally, I'd melt fluorines with gas. After all those years of the moly, I confess it's really nice to be back to serious horsepower from propane. Nat gas would be even nicer.

I converted to Nat gas 6 years ago... what a clean burning flame. I see a difference in my melts.

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